West African journalism educators, journalists, journalism students, postdoctoral researchers, and other media professionals met in a virtual symposium on March 30-31 to discuss issues affecting journalism education in the post-Covid-19 digital era.
Supported by the African Journalism Educators Network (AJEN), the symposium was organised by the Centre of Media and Communication Research (CMCR) at the Pan-Atlantic University, in Lagos, Nigeria.

Chairperson of the organising committee, Dr. Nelson Okorie, in an interview earlier on with the Wit Centre for Journalism said: “the core objective of this event is to promote an agenda to enhance the quality and learning experiences of journalism education in sub-Saharan Africa”. This, he added, was in line with the philosophy and orientation of AJEN. “Moreover, the novelty of this event is to expand the capacity of journalism education in West Africa,” he said.

Dr. Okorie said this was the first time that West Africa was holding an event to focus on journalism education specifically. “We have had communication education, and we will talk about the hub, the African Council for Communication Education, and they cover several areas that have to do with media, communication, and journalism. However, this is the first time we are having a symposium that has to do with journalism education.”

In her opening remark, Dr. Nancy Booker encouraged journalists from West Africa to work together to address the unique challenges that the region faces, and how journalism can respond to that.

She also emphasised that journalism should be able to help people solve problems and make decisions on a day to day basis and that journalists should continue to work together, share knowledge and experiences. In her words, “I’m hoping that as a first step, one of the outputs of this symposium will be greater synergies across the different institutions”.

 Some of the sub-themes of the symposium were:

E-learning practices and challenges for African journalism training
Journalism theories and newsroom realities in Africa
Journalism training and digital research tools for learning
Indigenous languages and African journalism training
Infrastructural challenges and solutions for African journalism training
Rethinking journalism courses in the post-Covid-19 digital era

The symposium reflected on the experiences gained from working virtually during the Covid-19 pandemic. Specific challenges facing journalism education in West Africa were also discussed.